bookandnovel Chapter 938 Decision
Chapter 938 Decision
Chapter 938 Decision
The composition of the Overseas Empire's Imperial Council is very simple, consisting of only eight people, all of whom are the old guard who started out with Lothar.
Lavinia served as the chief steward of the palace and concurrently as the chief judge of the kingdom, in charge of the nation's judicial affairs.
Kurs, as the chief intelligence officer, oversees the Dark Shadow spy organization, responsible for collecting intelligence both domestically and internationally, including the movements of various lords in overseas empires, enemy military deployments, public opinion, and even monitoring officials. He is similar to the leader of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.
Ulm, the Grand Treasurer of the Holy Treasury, was the former Grand Treasurer of the Kingdom, who was in charge of the economic affairs of the overseas empire.
Andreas, the successor to Kurs, was the Master of the Imperial Seals, responsible for holding the imperial seal, signing documents, drafting charters, and also overseeing the empire's foreign affairs.
Jeanne is the Grand Marshal of the Empire and the Guardian of the Holy Lance. She is in charge of the Empire's Royal Guard and, during wartime, also oversees all military affairs, including the Empire's mercenaries, the militias of various towns and guilds, and the armed forces under the lords.
Prajna, the wardrobe steward and the manager of Lothar's private treasury, personally manages many royal estates and properties.
Hans, commander of the Imperial Guard and Winged Hussars, was responsible for the security of the imperial city and ceremonial processions.
Uldin, Archbishop of the Overseas Empire, Head of the National Order, responsible for the affairs of the Church throughout the country.
As the Minister of the Imperial Seal, Andreas spoke first: "The Tatars are not weak. We have experienced their strength in the 'Dream Trial'. My personal opinion on the Tatars is to be on good terms with them for now and avoid conflict. Nomadic empires all have one characteristic: they rise and fall just as quickly."
The dream trial he mentioned was the battle record. At that time, their opponent was the Oirat tribe, which controlled the Northern Yuan royal court. The Oirat tribe was quite strong, but it was no match for the Tatar Empire, which was now at its zenith.
He paused slightly, then continued, "As far as I know, the Tatar Khan is old, and his sons are constantly fighting amongst themselves. After his death, the kingdom will surely fall apart and wage war against each other. At that time, we can win with minimal cost."
Lothar gave the young official, who had risen from a mere knight's servant, an approving look that surpassed the vision of most Europeans of that era.
"Kurs, what do you think of what your student said?"
"According to reports from the Shadow of Darkness's spies, the Tatars are indeed quite powerful. Three years ago, they only sent a small detachment, and the entire Karakhidan nation was mobilized to barely achieve a Pyrrhic victory. Now that they have returned, their strength has clearly grown too much. It is speculated that their four high shamans under the royal court have all reached the legendary rank, and there are also several Eastern monks of similar status, who must also possess considerable abilities. I personally agree with Andreas's assessment."
Kurs looked up at Lothar and said, "But everything depends on your will. The Empire has been recuperating for three years and its strength is no longer what it used to be. Even if the Tatars are strong, we are confident of victory."
"Jeanne, what do you think?"
Jeanne frowned and said, "I've heard from passing merchants that the Tatars are cruel and tyrannical, often massacring entire cities and are notorious for plundering. I don't think there's any point in behaving with them."
Anna, who was listening in, couldn't help but applaud and said, "That's right, Ms. Jeanne is right. They say that if they wait for the Tatar Khan to die of old age, they can just sit back and watch the enemy fall apart. But who knows how long their Khan will live? With so many legendary spellcasters under his command, wouldn't it be easy for him to concoct a longevity potion?"
Lothar coughed lightly: "Foreign envoy, this is a royal council meeting. If you do not wish to be a listener, you may choose to leave."
Anna snorted and stopped talking.
The Eastern Empire knew little about the Tatars, nor did it have the Shadow of Darkness, a spy organization that had grown increasingly large in recent years.
Hearing what Kurs said, she realized how terrifying this newly rising evil neighbor was. Their superhumans alone could easily sweep across the European countries. If they were to conquer Persia and then march westward, the empire's situation would be in grave danger.
Although the Eastern Empire has always maintained very close diplomatic relations with overseas empires, she really wasn't very confident about how much influence personal relationships could have in political matters.
Losa continued, "Jeanne has a point, but we're still separated from the Tatars by half of the Persian territory. Should we fight the Persians or the Tatars? Or should we try to fight both?"
Hans hesitated for a moment and said, "Hasn't the Tatar envoy already arrived? Let's hear what they have to say first."
Lothar smiled. If he was determined, no amount of persuasion from the Tatar envoy could convince him to change his mind.
“Very well, Andreas. It is your job as the Minister of the Seals to receive foreign envoys. You and Hans take the Winged Hussars to receive the Tatar delegation. I will have Ladon and his two wives support you.”
After the Council of Kings lost two members, Lothar said seriously, "Ulm, can the national treasury support us launching a war involving 100,000 people?"
Ulm hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, “Your Majesty, it depends on how long you intend to fight. If you mobilize only 50,000 standing troops and 50,000 lords’ armed forces for a period of three months, it will not be a great burden on the Empire. But if you mobilize more, most of the Empire’s construction plans for this year will have to be put on hold.”
The wealth of the overseas empire is beyond doubt. It occupies the crossroads of Eurasia, which is equivalent to setting up checkpoints and collecting taxes on the Silk Road. In addition, with the tributes from many Crusader city-states in East Africa, the empire's annual fiscal revenue is greater than that of the whole of Europe, including Constantinople.
Sasanian Persia was also wealthy, but the local nobles were deeply entrenched, and the tax revenue that the King of Kings could collect would be stripped away layer by layer, leaving him with very little, making it far from comparable to the overseas empires.
The problem is that with high income comes high expenses.
Lothar's construction of irrigation systems throughout the empire, his excavation of mountains in Jerusalem to build the "Emperor's Road" connecting every corner of the empire with these rammed earth roads, and his efforts to tame the unruly Nile River through irrigation works—all these expenditures would have bankrupted any other nation undertaking such a project.
...
When the mission arrived in Jerusalem, the Ivan tribe and the Kheshig were not particularly impressed by the city.
Although a wide "Emperor's Road" has been carved out of the mountains in Jerusalem over the past three years, the city has only expanded on a small scale. The current permanent population is just over 30,000, which is no increase compared to before. Moreover, Losar has taken the initiative to relocate many residents to surrounding towns and estates so that the city will not become overcrowded due to the large number of pilgrims each year.
However, such a small city is hardly worthy of the title of the imperial capital.
Upon entering the palace, one of the three main members of the delegation immediately knelt on one knee and made the sign of the cross with utmost reverence.
"Worship Barthelius of the Southern Empire, the sole sovereign of all the Franks in the East, the guardian of the Holy Land of Jerusalem, the patron saint of Christians overseas, the great protector of the sacred tree and the wielder of the holy spear."
The speaker was Fulke. Ivan was somewhat helpless, while the Kheshig leader, Barth, simply expressed his disdain.
He thought that Fulke was simply terrified by the three-headed dragon he saw when he entered the city.
On the grasslands, the four great shamans had vanquished countless demonic dragons; even the skulls of smaller giant dragons were not worthy of being hung as ornaments in the Great Khan's tent.
However, the army of Nanfulin looked quite impressive, with a disciplined military presence and excellent equipment. The cavalrymen with feather decorations on their backs were no less impressive than the Kheshig army. No wonder they were able to overthrow the Green-Clad Abbasids.
Lothar frowned and said, "I think I've seen you before."
Before Fulke could reply, Kurs revealed the other man's identity: "Baron Fulke of Langedok? There shouldn't be any mistake."
Although it was a question, Kurs' tone was very certain.
In three years, Fulke had changed a lot, and even his closest friends might not be able to recognize him. But Kurs was different; he didn't rely on appearance to identify people.
Fulke was somewhat apprehensive.
He was just a nobody back then, who came to the Holy Land to escort Leonard's fiancée, Eleanor of Languedoc, but he lost her due to his negligence. He had to ask Lothar, the Count of Transjordan at the time, for help to get the lady back.
“Mr. Kurs, I didn’t expect you to remember me.”
"Hehe, I even advised His Majesty back then to take you, a loyal and brave man, as a bodyguard."
Fulke said with some shame, "I have failed your trust and broken my oath to God."
Lothar frowned and said, "Let's put the past aside for now. Now that you serve the Tatars, what does your new master want you to do during this visit?"
cough--
Ivan calmly took over the conversation: "Your Majesty, we have a letter from the Great Khan to present. Although the Tatars are a remote country, they are nomadic and have not been influenced by the king's rule. Their words may be slightly offensive, but please believe that our Great Khan has absolute respect for Your Majesty and wishes to establish a brotherly alliance of non-aggression with your country."
Losa smiled and said, "Bring up the credentials."
Having received the letter of state, Lothar did not even glance at it. Instead, he tossed it in his hand with a slightly flippant air: "As far as I know, the Tatars are inherently aggressive. First they swallowed up Karakhidan, then Khwarazm, and now they are heading south to try and swallow up Eran Shahr. Why would such a wolfish nation want to befriend a foreign empire?"
He said, his tone slightly cold: "Could it be that you intend to lull us into a false sense of security with the so-called 'non-aggression pact,' and then launch an invasion after swallowing up the entire territory of Eranshahr?"
Although Balth couldn't understand their conversation, he felt extremely offended by Lothar's actions and couldn't help but mutter a string of words in his own language.